Requirements for new Ubuntu packages

When a source package is uploaded to Ubuntu which does not yet exist in the archive, or builds a new binary package, it will be held in the [http://people.ubuntu.com/~ubuntu-archive/queue/feisty/new/ NEW queue] and has to be reviewed by an [https://launchpad.net/~ubuntu-archive Ubuntu archive team] member.

Requirements of new source packages

Redistributability

These points are critical. Packages must not be accepted if any of these points is not fulfilled:

• The upstream tarball must contain verbatim copies of all licenses that are used by the files in the tarball. References to URLs or file paths (such as /usr/share/common-licenses/) are not sufficient.

• For all files it must be clear under which license they fall. Code files should usually have a short comment at the top which points out the license.

• Files shipped under the GPL must be in the 'preferered form of modification' format. Negative examples are Flash animations (*.swf) or other binary files where no free editor (or even no editor at all) exists.

• debian/copyright must list all copyright holders and licenses (pointers to /usr/share/common-licenses/ are ok), and the mapping of source tree parts to licenses.

Packaging

Depending on the severity of violations and your current mood it is acceptable to put the package into the archive and have the uploader fix it with followup uploads.

• The source and binary packages should have a sane name: neither they should clutter the namespace (such as "editor") nor should they have an entirely nonsensical name (such as "new-stuff-manager").

• debian/control and debian/rules should build packages with the right Architecture:, Build-Depends[-Indep]:, and rules target (binary-arch vs. binary-indep).

• Maintainer and init scripts should not excessively mess up the system.

Other

The [http://ftp-master.debian.org/REJECT-FAQ.html Debian NEW Reject FAQ] lists some important special cases which mostly apply to Ubuntu as well (except that we consider the GFDL as free enough).

Requirements of new binary packages

To be written